Mason Coile is the pen name of bestselling author, Andrew Pyper. Mason writes books that are distinct from Andrew’s: short, twisty thrillers with a sci-fi bent and a strand of horror. Coile’s first novel is WILLIAM, an A.I. ghost story. His second (coming in 2025) is EXILES. WILLIAM is being developed for feature film!
Henry is a brilliant engineer who, after untold hours spent in his home lab, has achieved the breakthrough of his career—he’s created an artificially intelligent consciousness. He calls the half-formed robot William.
No one knows about William. Henry’s agoraphobia keeps him inside the house, and his fixation on his project keeps him up in the attic, away from everyone, including his pregnant wife, Lily.
When Lily’s coworkers show up, wanting to finally meet Henry and see the new house—the smartest of smart homes—Henry decides to introduce them to William, and things go from strange to much worse. Soon Henry and Lily discover the security upgrades intended to keep danger out of the house are even better at locking it in.
William is a thrilling and unputdownable AI psychological horror novel. The writing is very straightforward, and the dialogue is simple yet very entertaining. The book doesn’t have a first act where it introduces the characters and setting. Instead, the story jumps right into the suspenseful plot and the backstory of the characters is slowly filled in during captivating dialogue and unexpected twists.
The characters in the story are mostly interesting but very flawed. Henry, being depicted as an extreme agoraphobe, has frequent inner monologues of rising terror and panic when thinking of venturing outside the house. This adds an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia and impending doom to the reading experience. Due to the length of the story and how fast-paced it is, there isn’t much character development, and aside from Henry, readers won’t care much about the characters’ outcomes.
Henry and Lily’s Victorian house plays a key role in creating the overall atmosphere of terror in the story. The house is extremely creepy, especially Henry’s eerie laboratory on the second floor that is padlocked due to the unpredictable and malevolent robot William inside. Once the AI force takes control of the house, the story takes on a full “locked room” scenario, and the terror increases significantly. It should be noted that some of the death scenes are quite unexpected and gruesome, reminiscent of an 80s-style horror film! Since the writing is geared towards creating an atmosphere of trepidation, some of the unexpected horror scenes feel rushed and unsatisfying and could have used more descriptive prose to be more compelling and memorable.
Narrators Honey St. Dennis does a great job narrating this audiobook. St. Dennis masterfully uses her smooth, captivating voice to vividly bring Henry to life, using a constant undertone of tension and anxiety perfectly suited to the character. St. Dennis paces the story extremely well and increases the level of emotional intensity of all the characters in the second half when everyone’s level of terror climaxes. St. Dennis also provides distinct and authentic voices for the various characters, including very sinister and terrifying voices for the malevolent AI characters, making for a thoroughly entertaining listen! With such a high-quality performance, the audiobook is the recommended format for enjoying this book, and it’s one you won’t soon forget!
Overall, William offers a quick and unique dose of cyber horror. If you’re a fan of locked-room storylines, cyber noir, unpredictable twists, and propulsive thrillers, then this book should be high on your consideration list. With a film adaptation already in the works, this book is sure to increase in popularity. At only 213 pages or 5 hours of listening, this book is perfect to quickly devour during the spooky season or even Halloween night!
